Railroad-joint.



J. RQJOHNSON.

. .1909. I Q Patented Jan. 18,1910.

lll Mi JAMES R. JOHNSON, OF MILL TOWNfGEORGIA.

RAILROAD-JOINT. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 18, 1910.

Application filed October 4,1909, I Serial No. 520,802.

T 0 all whom "it may concem': 1

Be it known that I, Janus R. JOHNSON, a

citizen of the United States, residing atv Milltown. in the county ofBerrien and State of Georgia. have invented a new and usefulRailroad-Joint, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rail joints and its object is to provideimproved means whereby two .rails can be securely held together. withoutthe necessity of utilizing bolts such as commonly employed.

Another object is to provide a novel form of fish plate having improvedmeans for holding it in place, said means being formed integral with therail and cooperating with removable means engaging the base flanges ofthe rails, all of said means being such as to permit the necessaryexpansion and contraction of the metal.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of certainnovel details of construction and combinations of parts herematter morefully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail joint embodyingthe present improvement. Fig. 2 is a section on line .'\B of Fig. 1.Fig.- 3 is a perspective view of one end portion of a rail embodying thepresent improvement. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a fishplate. Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line CD of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 isa perspective view of one of the locking blocks. I

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates therails to be held together, each of these rails being provided at eachend with lon itudinally extending ribs 2 formed upon the lower face ofthe head 3 of the rail, said ribs being spaced from the webs 4 andhaving lugs 5 interposed between the web and the ribs, said lugs beingpreferably disposed in pairs as shownparticularly in Figs. 1 and 3. Aslot 6 is formed in each base flan e of the rail and adjacent each endthereo this slot beingdesigned to receive a block 7 having an upstandingtapered lug 8 thereon. A notch 9 is formed in each base flange for thepurpose hereinafter stated. The fish plates 10 used in connection withthe rails have notches or recesses 11 in their upper edges, each edgebeing of such thickness as to be I readily inserted between the web 4and one of the ribs 2, the notches being arranged to receive the lugs 5when the fish plate is inserted back of the rib. The base 12' of thefish plate is designed to rest on the base flange of the rail, and has aslot 13 therein into which the lug 8 projects, the length of the slotbeing slightly greater than that of the lug so as to permit thenecessary expansion and contraction of the metal. A notch 14 is formedwithin the edge of the base 12 and is designed to register with thenotch 9 so as to receive a spike 15 utilized for securing the rail. andthe fish plate in position.

The notches or recesses 11 are preferably slightly longer than the lugs5 'so as to permit a slight play and not interfere with the expansionand contraction of the rails.

In assembling the parts herein described i the rails are placed withtheir ends together and the fish plates 10 are then inserted be tweenthe ribs 2 and the web 4 so as to cause the lugs 5 to project into thenotches or recesses 11. The bases of the fish plates are then moved onto the base flanges ,of the rails and by lifting the rails the lockingblocks 7 can be inserted into the slots 6 from beneath the rails. Lugs 8will thus be forced upward into the slots 13 registering with the slots6 and afterthe rails have been lowered it becomes impossible to removethe blocks 7 therefrom. As long as the lugs 8 project into the slots 13the fish plates are properly held and cannot be detached, the only wayin which this detachment can be effected being by lifting the rails asufiicient distance to permit the blocks 7 to be forced downward and outof the openings 6. After the various parts have been assembled in themanner described the rails are secured to the ties in the usual manner,certain of the spikes being driven through the notches 14 and 9,80 as tosecurely hold the rails to the ties at the points where the fish platesare located.

It will be seen that a joint such as herein described serves to securelyhold, the rails together without the necessity of utilizing bolts orsimilar fastening devices and there are no parts which can work looseand thus permit accidental disconnection of the rails.

Various changes can of course be made m the construction and arrangementof the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of theadvantages of the inventio tion of the lugs,

What is claimed is 1. In a rail joint, the combination with abuttingrails having depending longitudinally extending ribs upon the headthereo1 and spaced from the web and lugs interosed between the ribsandthe web, of sh late insertible between the ribs and the web and havingnotches for the recepthere being registering apertures between the baseflanges of the rails and the bases of the fish plates, and means heldfrom vertical movement within the said apertures by the bases of thefish lates for holding'said bases upon the base anges.

2. In a rail joint, the combination with abutting rails having dependinglongitudinally ext-ending ribs upon the heads thereof and spaced fromthe webs, and lugs inter-- and webs, of fish plates disposed between theribs and web posed between the ribs and having recesses for thereception of the lugs, there being registering apertures within the baseflanges of the rail'and the bases of the fish plates, and alocking-block mounted within each aperture in the basefianges and eachlapped and retained by the base of a fish plate, said blocks havingprojecting portions extending into the apertures in'the bases of thefish plates.

3. A rail joint consisting of abutting railshaving longitudinallyextending ribs upon the head thereof and spaced from the rail webs,there being lugs interposed between the ribs and webs and an aperturewithin each base flange of each rail and a fish plate fish plate,

vture 1n the presence of two insertible between each rib and the Webs ofthe'rails,

said fish plate having recesses for the reception of the lugs, said-fishplate having apertures in the base thereof 'registering with theadjoining apertures in the base flanges and a locking block reinovablymounted within each base flange and lapped and held by the base of afish plate, each block having an integral projection extending into theadjoining aperture in the fish plate.

4.'A rail joint including abutting rails having lon 'tudinally extendingribs upon the lower aces of the heads thereof and spaced from the webs,there being lugs inter osed between the ribs and webs, each rail avingan aperture in each base flange there of, fish plates insertible betweenthe ribs and Webs and having recesses for the reception of the lugs,there being apertures in the base portions of the fish plates andregistering with the correspondi apertures in thebase flanges, a lockingbloc removably mounted within each aperture in the rails and lapped andheld in the aperture by the base of a each block having a projectionextending'into the adjoining aperture in the base of a fish plate; r Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed mysignawitnesses.

JAMES R. JOHNSON.

Jfitnesses:

M. E. Jonnson, W. PATIEK.

